Arrow Season Four Episode 17 Review

Arrow got me this week. The way to my heart is a good Harry Potter reference and there Arrow was talking about Voldemort in the first five minutes. Laurel is saying everything but Felicity’s name and Oliver says, “she’s not Voldemort”. They then discussed whether or not Oliver knew who Voldemort was and if he read the books or saw the movies and then he continued the hilarity by not even knowing there were movies. I laughed out loud, literally.

I know what you’re thinking: “what does this have to do with anything?” I can answer that by saying I can’t remember the last time I literally laughed out loud withArrow instead of at it. This was only the beginning of how fun and silly this week’s episode was. It was really weird how much fun it was. It was a complete tonal shift and it worked in Arrow’s favor. Let’s look at the plot: Brie Larvan, everyone’s favorite bee-obsessed hacker from last season of The Flash, hacks her way out of prison and holds Palmer Tech board members hostage with her computerized bee drones until Felicity gives her the prototype for her paralysis curing implant. Sounds completely silly right? How could this ever be anything but light hearted? Right? Well Arrow has a way of making sunshine dark so I wasn’t sure what this episode was going to end up being, but I was pleasantly surprised.

Of course they had to touch on the epic break up between Oliver and Felicity but they kept it light and brief because let’s be honest there are computerized bee drones flying around everywhere no one is going to pay enough attention to anything else. They tried an interesting dynamic where Laurel and Thea split up talking to each side of the break up. Laurel puts Oliver in his place by explaining in little words why dear Felicity had to leave, so he should stop beating everyone else up and deal with his problems. I mean, poor Curtis was just trying to help and Oliver projected his own feelings of not wanting this savior life anymore and not wanting anyone else to suffer. But he was lashing out rather than thinking, so Laurel needed to step in and remind him that he lied, not the Green Arrow. Thea talks to Felicity about how she must miss helping people now that she’s left Team Arrow. Felicity referrs to their current hostage situation as “Die Hard with Bees” (another solid pop culture reference, the episode was full of them) and insists she doesn’t want that life. She wants to help people, but not this way. Both sides proved to be successful. Oliver got over himself enough to help save lives and Felicity figured out a way to help people through Palmer Tech. Done. The episode had to keep all that going, I get that, I’m just glad it wasn’t the focus.

Where do I start with the ridiculousness of this week’s episode? Curtis has some sort of flu that gave him a 104 degree fever and he is sent home from work. Upon finding out about the hostage situation, he goes on a journey to save Felicity and stumbles upon the Arrow Bunker, which he nicknames the Arrow Cave, which I like better. His reactions to all things Team Arrow are golden. He says “pinch me” under his breath a few times after talking about Team Arrow. He just starts messing with the computers. There’s a throw away line about giving him an IV of fluids to explain how he is remarkably better. He’s cracking jokes and making bee puns. He apparently makes pop culture references when he’s nervous. The bee puns he made were the best and he even commented on how it might too soon for bee puns. The fact that he knew everyone in the Arrow Cave except for Diggle made for a hilarious interaction. I was wondering how the Team was going to cope without Felicity but Curtis fits right in and doesn’t miss a beat. It reminded me of Felicity when we first met her. It was all so self-aware and almost beautiful.

To add even more silliness, the robotic bee drones form some sort of humanoid that wants to kill kill kill. This thing stings Oliver and the drone begins to multiply inside of Oliver’s body. The only way to disable the bees was through a high frequency, which comes from Laurel’s canary cry. In one of my favorite moments of all of Arrow, at least as of recently, Laurel has to scream at Oliver, literally scream at him to save his life. That must’ve been so therapeutic for her! You can really see how satisfied she is through the look in her eyes when she stops. That was an extremely empowering moment for Laurel. I wanted to stand up and clap.

Quentin and Donna are in this episode and had total meta moments. Now Donna is usually as ridiculous as the show gets but she is in rare form. She complains about her footware and how she should rethink her fashion choices since there is a fight almost every week. To make her shut up, Felicity throws her mother’s own hair in her mouth. That woman can talk. Quentin comments this week on what his life has become hanging out in the Arrow Cave talking about bee drones and whether or not there is a type of digital honey that can lure bee drones. He acknowledges it and he is accepting it. It was nice to see Quentin have a sense of humor.

I haven’t laughed this much in a while. This laughter usually goes entirely to The Flash. It was a nice breath of fresh air. The title of this week’s episode is fitting in many ways. There’s the obvious bee pun, which this episode was full of. The best one was “Bee-Yotch” even if Felicity knew it was a bit on the nose. Also, Oliver is a beacon of hope for Star City and Laurel reminds him that he can use some of that hope for himself, too, and that Felicity and Palmer Tech are beacons of hope for those who are in need. This entire episode was a beacon of hope for Arrow fans everywhere. We all needed a little hope that Arrow could come back and we got it.

This breath of relaxation is probably short lived seeing as Malcolm is well in cahoots with H.I.V.E and we finally saw Andy again. It seems he might be a double agent–surprise surprise. The question is, which side does he lean towards? Darhk is also very much still present and up to something. Bodies are going to drop. I mean, we know at least one will, with that grave scene still a mystery.

I don’t want to future trip though. I know there are five episodes left that could bring back the darkness. But, I want to hang on to that feeling of light-heartedness. I want to focus on how much fun I had watching this week’s episode. For now, I want to let it Bee.